Conventionally, there has been proposed a recording apparatus, or an on-board drive recorder which videotapes a peripheral situation of a vehicle by a camera mounted on the vehicle, and which records the videotaped image information. An image recorded by the drive recorder is utilized for tracking down a cause of an accident when the accident occurs, or is utilized for safe driving education for drivers.
As the peripheral situation a traffic light (traffic signal) may be captured by the camera mounted on the vehicle. Recent traffic lights use light emitting diodes (LEDs) in the light displaying portions. The LED traffic light is advantageous in terms of power consumption and lifetime. When a light displaying portion of a LED traffic light displays light of a color, the LEDs of the light displaying portion are driven by a commercial alternating (AC) power supply for example, and repeat lighting and non-lighting at frequency of the AC power supply of the commercial power supply. The flashing of the LEDs in the light displaying portion may not be recognized by a human with the naked eye. The drive recorder records a videotaped image at a constant recording rate such as 30 frames/second, for example. Depending upon conditions of a camera device of the drive recorder, despite the fact that it seems a light displaying portion of a LED traffic light displays light of a color by the naked eye, an image of the LED traffic light in which all of the light displaying portions are turned off is recorded in some cases.
There have been proposed various types of apparatuses which videotape a traffic light in its lighting state. For example Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2009-278496 proposes an apparatus which videotapes with timing deviated from a cycle of a power supply of a traffic light. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-288743 proposes an apparatus which videotapes with exposure time which is adjusted longer than a flashing cycle of LEDs. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-301518 proposes an apparatus which videotapes with cycle which is not in synchronization with the flashing cycle of LEDs.